If you are ready to ride, I’m ready to roll

01-02-08

In an intensive exercise of introspection, I look a little closer on the mirror of my life (at least the Jessup related part) that is Aida. She has so many potential, so many great assets, but the go down the drain thanks to the insecurities that have been planted on her head by none the less that the Cuaimas, no matter how many times she hears from sincere and honest people that she is good, it doesn’t really sinks in since she has the image of them telling her how ackward, and wrong and imperfect she is. But she is working, and little by little, and with the help of people like myself and my super-friends, she will come around to shine like the star we know she is.

And then I get to myself, the core of it all. I have realized since the beginning how similar both of our situations are. Sure, last year the tension wasn’t so strong. But last year I was almost certain that the coaches were on someone else’s side, (Enma at Coral’s, Amelia on Jimena’s and Altair on Erika’s) but not on mine. Unlike this time, I never had a coach tell me straight into my face that I had potential, on how much they believed in me…sure, they gave us several pep talks, but it was to the team, and never to me as an individual. I still believed that a little encouragement, a simple “ go get them tiger!” would have been enough to turn it 180 degrees.

Im trying to mend those mistakes, by assuring that Aida is in full knowledge of her capacities; of her strengths and weaknesses, of all the things that she is capable of achieving. At the end of the day, Jessup changed my life, for the better. I grew up as a person. I learned how to deal, not only with different and difficult persons, but also how to deal with myself in the most extreme of circumstances…how to move on when the only thing i had was my own voice telling me “ come on, move on, you can do it!”. How at the end of the day I was able to achieve great things for myself thanks to perseverance and effort, not to the opinion of others about me. I left Jessup with a more defined image of myself, build on my own, not imposed by others, and with the maturity and knowledge of oneself that comes after being to hell and back.

And if I could have just one wish for this year’s Jessup, if I could have only one thing, it wouldn’t be the Cup, it wouldn’t be to be on the top 24…it would be that Aida is capable of growing up, of maturing and rediscovering herself, and emerge from this a renewed person, a new self, stronger and wiser, knowing that there will not be anything she can’t achieve if she sets her mind on it; that a group of positive friends can help you get through anything, that once you set you eyes on something there is no reason to moving back, no matter what others might think or say… that at the end of the day, you are not awkward, or imperfect or incompetent….. you are the best damm thing. If im capable of getting this through her head then my mission would have been accomplished, even if we rank last.